


In Medias Res

by coalitiongirl



Category: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-12-11
Updated: 2011-12-11
Packaged: 2017-10-31 02:20:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 484
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/338804
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/coalitiongirl/pseuds/coalitiongirl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Post-His Way awkwardness.</p>
            </blockquote>





	In Medias Res

The worst part of dating your best friend (who's loved you for forever, Prophets, how could you have missed that?), is the silent expectation after the first kiss. From you, of course, waiting for him to approach you (he's nothing if not frank, and you can't imagine why it's taken him so long to confront you). From your friends (and Jadzia keeps giving you sly smiles, and if Julian attempts to awkwardly bring the subject to Odo again, you might give in to an old urge and snap at him with all the fire of a Bajoran woman), who are waiting for the happy ending they'd been looking for since yesterday.   
  
It takes you until you're walking past his office for what must be the thirtieth time today in an attempt to catch his eye, when you see him glance up and then down just as quickly, to realize that he shares those quiet expectations, too.  
  
It isn't difficult to understand them, once you realize that they're there. If there's one thing you like to think you've mastered over the years, it's reading Odo, understanding where he's coming from and why. And now you know that he's afraid that last night was a fluke, that you're not interested anymore. It hadn't helped that you'd been pulled away by an alarm in Ops almost immediately after that kiss (and hadn't that been a revelation, because you're still young enough to worry about things like chemistry with your...someday lover, and your fears had never quite been so mollified as with a kiss that had left you breathless and emotional and desperate for more).   
  
You're kind of annoyed at him when you realize (after all, hadn't you made the first move, attempting dinner and dancing and instead receiving...more?), and so you lift your chin up in stubborn ignorance and march on without a second glance at Odo or the expectant crowd of the Promenade (and maybe that's it, Odo's such a private person and he must be horribly embarrassed by their public kiss). It's his turn.   
  
About then, you realize how juvenile you sound in your mind. Odo is waiting for you, and though you're certain that he'll say something eventually, he's also accustomed enough to pining for the impossible (oh, Odo, how can he not know that you love him? And maybe it isn't *in love* just yet, but you're certain that it'll follow) that he'll be taking your lack of response as outright rejection. And you want this, enough to swallow your pride, turn on your heel, and barge into his office with a "Good morning." (And it's still morning, have you really spent the past three hours pacing in front of his office? No wonder people are staring.)  
  
He blinks up at you, and you can see the apprehension evident on his face before you duck around his desk and kiss him. 


End file.
